Breweries Archives - Brookston Beer Bulletin

Historic Beer Birthday: William O. Poth

April 17, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of William O. Poth (April 17, 1876-March 9, 1901). He was the son of Frederick J. Poth and the older brother of Harry A. Poth. In 1870, his grandfather founded the Fred A. Poth Brewery, which by 1875 was the largest brewery in the U.S. His brother Harry was the brewer, but it’s unclear what William’s role at the family brewery was. I could find very little about him, even his Find-a-Grave page doesn’t list the date of his death. But I did find it mentioned in the trade publication The Western Brewer from March 1906:

The Poth brewery, from an illustration done in the early 1890s.

I couldn’t find any photographs of him, which isn’t too surprising given I couldn’t find any of his father and only one of his brother, Frederick J. Poth. Sadly, I could find almost nothing else about him, either.

The Poth & Sons Brewery around 1900.

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Historic Beer Birthday: William H. Biner

April 16, 2019 By Jay Brooks 2 Comments

Today is the birthday of William H. “Billy” Biner (April 16, 1889-January 5, 1953). Biner was a journeyman brewer who worked for numerous breweries over his long career. He was born in the Montana territory to Swiss immigrant parents. His father, Theophil Biner, knew Leopold Schmidt and even worked at his Olympia Brewery. Biner sent two of his sons, including Billy once he’s finished with a career as a boxer, to brewing school in Milwaukee. Biner’s first brewing job was at the Phoenix Brewery in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1912. He then worked as the brewmaster for at least eight more breweries, from Los Angeles to Canada. The breweries he worked at included the Mexicali Brewery; the Orange Crush Bottling Company in L.A.; the Mexicali Brewing Company again after it was rebuilt following an earthquake; then the Kootenay Breweries, Ltd. in both Nelson and Trail, in BC, Canada; followed by the Ellensburg Brewing Co. in Washington, and then in 1937 he founded his own brewery, the Mutual Brewing Company. But it didn’t last thanks to World War II and supply issues, and it folded. Afterward, he moved on to both Sicks’ Century Brewery in Seattle and the Silver Springs Brewery in Port Orchard, Washington. Finally, he ran the East Idaho Brewing Co. in Pocatello, Idaho until 1946, when he retired from brewing and bought his own bar, the Leipzig Tavern in Portland, Oregon. He stayed there until a year before he died, which was in 1953.

Here’s his biography from Brewery Gems, written by Gary Flynn working with Joseph Fulton, the grandson of William Biner:

William Henry “Billy” Biner was born in Boulder, Montana Territory, on April 16, 1889. He was the fifth of nine children for Theophil Biner and Juliana Truffer, immigrants from Randa, Switzerland.

Theophil Biner was a builder and an acquaintance of Leopold Schmidt, founder of Olympia Brewery. He worked briefly for Schmidt in Tumwater, Washington from 1903-1905. Later in 1905 he purchased the Phoenix Brewery in the copper boomtown of Phoenix, British Columbia. Theophil became president of the company and his sons Albert and Dan ran it.

Younger son Billy became a boxer, eventually earning the title of welterweight champion of British Columbia. In 1911 Theo Biner sent his sons Billy and Gustave to the Hantke Brewery School in Milwaukie, Wisconsin where they graduated in 1912. Billy then became the brewmaster for the Phoenix Brewery and as an aspiring artist he also designed all of the beer labels. During this time he gave up boxing for curling where he found similar success.

Billy Biner married Harriet Lynch, the daughter of diamond drilling supervisor Dan Lynch in 1914. As prohibition approached Billy wrote articles for the local paper espousing the benefits of beer. But business declined in Phoenix and he moved south to Los Angeles in 1919 to work for the Canadian Club Bottling-Orange Crush Bottling Co.

From 1924 through 1929 he served as the brewmaster for the Mexicali Brewing Company in Mexicali, Mexico. In 1929 he returned to Canada and was a brewer in the towns of Merritt and Princeton, BC. From 1929 through 1936 he served as brewmaster for the Kootenay Brewing Company in both Nelson and Trail, BC.

In 1936 Biner moved to Ellensburg, Washington where he became brewmaster at the Ellensburg Brewery through 1942. After the Ellensburg Brewery closed Biner worked as a brewer at both Sick’s Select Brewery in Seattle and Silver Spring’s Brewery in Port Orchard, WA before moving on to Pocatello, where he ran the Aero Club Brewery until 1946.

He purchased the Leipzig Tavern in Portland, Oregon in 1946 and operated it until 1952 when he moved to Los Angeles to work for the North American Aircraft Company. He died of a heart attack on January 5, 1953.

Billy and Harriet Biner had four children; Betty, Bill, Bob and Fredericka (Fritzi). Bill and Bob Biner both worked for their father in Ellensburg before becoming members of the US Air Corps during WW II. Together they flew over 100 missions and are the subjects of the book The Brewmaster’s Bombardier and Belly Gunner.

Although none of Billy’s children or grandchildren became professional brewers, his great-grandson, Charlton Fulton, is the brewer at McMenamins Mill Creek Brewery near Seattle, Washington.

Biner with his sisters Julia and Mary Cecelia and his children Betty and Billy, c. 1925.

A label from his first brewery job, which he may also have designed.

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Historic Beer Birthday: Mathias Leinenkugel

April 16, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Mathias (sometimes spelled Matthias) Leinenkugel (April 16, 1866-June 3, 1927). He was the oldest child of Jacob Leinenkugel, who in 1867, along with John Miller, co-founded the Spring Brewery in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. In 1884, Jacob bought out Miller and the name was changed to the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. Mathias served as president of the family brewery from 1907 until his death in 1927. Miller Brewing Co. bought the brewery in 1988, but it continues to be managed by the Leinenkugel family.

Jacob Leinenkugel and his family, though I’m not sure, it seems likely that Mathias is the tall boy standing next to his seated father.

This biography is from Chippewa Falls History:

Mathias “Matt” Jacob Leinenkugel was the oldest of the children born to Jacob Leinenkugel. He was born April 16th, 1866. He grew up in Chippewa Falls with the rest of the Leinenkugel family. In 1889, he married Kathryn M. Watzl. Kathryn was born in 1868 in Montpelier, Wisconsin to John and Maria Watzl. Growing up around the brewery, naturally Mathias started working there. He started work there as a salesman from 1900 to 1907. In 1907, he was promoted to President of the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewery. He stayed in this position until his death on June 3rd, 1927.

Outside of the brewery, Mathias had a great family life with his wife and children. They lived at 821 North Bridge Street here in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. In 1890, they had their first child, Josephine Katherine Theresa. She was born December 6th, 1890. She would go on to be married twice, and have three children. Her first marriage was to Joseph (John) Black on April 16th, 1912. They were married in Chippewa Falls and remained there after their marriage. Unfortunately, John passed away in 1932 (John Black Dies).

After John’s passing, Josephine re-married on February 15th, 1941 to Thomas Gibbons. They spent the rest of their years together in Minnesota, as Gibbons was Ramsey County Sheriff until the mid-50’s.

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This is his obituary from Find-a-Grave:

Mathias Jacob Leinenkugel was born the oldest child of Jacob Mathias Leinenkugel and Josephine Imhoff (Imhof on her death card which was all in German). He was born 16 April 1866 in Sauk City, Sauk Co, Wis.

In 1867 his parents came to Chippewa Falls and his father Jacob, trained by his father Mathias in the brewery trade, began a brewery.

Mathias worked in the brewery as a salesman and in the 1880’s met Kathryn M Watzl who was living in Chippewa Falls. They married at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Chippewa Falls, Wis on 18 June 1889.

Mathias was eventually president of the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewery in Chippewa Falls. They lived at 821 N Bridge St.

Mathias and Kathryn had 3 children: Josephine Catherine Theresa Leinenkugel, Jacob Mathias Leinenkugel, and Karl J (became Carl) Leinenkugel.

Mathias was ill a couple years with pulmonary tuberculosis and died in Chippewa Falls, Chippewa Co, WI on 3 June 1926 at age 60 years 1 month and 17 days of age. His death was recorded in Vol 21 page 34 of the Chippewa Co Court House records.

The brewery around 1930.

And this fuller history is from the website Chippewa Falls History:

When people hear the name Leinenkugel, most would think of the beer or maybe even Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. As the owner of Colette’s Tavern says, “Some people get hysterical when they find out I have it. The beer’s got some kind of charm.” Most, however, do not think of the rich and interesting history that has gone into the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company. Most of this history comes from its origins and how over five generations, the business has kept within the Leinenkugel family. To properly tell the history of this family, we must start at the beginning with Jacob Mathias Leinenkugel himself. Jacob Leinenkugel was born May 22nd, 1842 in Prussia to Matthias and Maria Leinenkugel. Jacob and his entire family arrived in New York on August 2nd, 1845. They had taken a ship, the American, from Amsterdam to New York, New York. Jacob Leinenkugel was three at the time of this trip. The Leinenkugel family settled in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin and stayed there to raise their children. In 1865, Jacob Leinenkugel married Josephine Imhoff in Sauk City, Wisconsin. Two years later, Jacob, Josephine and their son, Mathias, all moved to Chippewa Falls when Jacob started the Spring Brewery, now known as the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company.

The brewery was constructed in 1867 on property along the Duncan Creek which Jacob had purchased from Hiram Allen. Jacob Leinenkugel established the Spring Brewery with John Miller. In their first year alone, they “…delivered 400 barrels…with a small cart pulled by a horse named Kate.” Originally, the Brewery only had two teams of horses, which meant they could deliver kegs of beer up to ten miles outside of Chippewa Falls. “During the early years, Jacob Leinenkugel drove the wagon himself.” The Spring Brewery was named as such because it was built near the Big Eddy Springs in Chippewa Falls. These springs “…poured nonacidic, non-alkaline water that the brewery uses without treatment to this day.” The Spring Brewery soon became the Jacob Leinenkugel Spring Brewery Company when John Miller sold his share in 1883.

It is said that “Jacob Leinenkugel…was more than a brewer of Leinenkugel’s beer. Described as a noble, magnanimous man and a generous contributor to Notre Dame Church, he served two years as mayor.” Indeed, Jacob Leinenkugel was more than just a brewer. He also had a rich family life. He had five children with his first wife, Josephine. The oldest, Mathias “Matt” Jacob was born in 1866. Their oldest daughter, Rose, was born in 1867. Their next oldest son, William, was born in 1870. Susan, the second oldest daughter, was born nine months later in 1870. And finally, they had one child who was born in 1873 but sadly passed away as an infant. Josephine Leinenkugel passed away in 1890, at the age of 44. A few years later, Jacob Leinenkugel re-married in 1892. He married Anna Wilson and had two children. Della, the oldest, was born in 1894 and Edward was born in 1896.

Leinenkugel’s fermenting tanks in 1897.

Historic Beer Birthday: William Leonard Hoerber

April 15, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of William Leonard Hoerber (April 5, 1849-May 7, 1933). He was the son of German-born John L. Hoerber, who founded the John L. Hoerber Brewery in 1858, after emigrating to Chicago, Illinois. William was brought up in the family business and took over the brewery after his father passed away in 1898. After prohibition, it reopened as The Hoerber Brewing Co., and remained in business until 1941, when it closed for good.

This short biography is from “The Book of Chicagoans: A Biographical Dictionary of Leading Living Men of the City of Chicago, edited by Albert Nelson Marquis, published in 1911:

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Chicago historian and beer writer Bob Skilnik had an article in the Chicago Tribune that mentioned the Hoerber Brewery in 1997:

A population increase from a few hundred in 1833 to more than 100,000 in 1860 opened the market and made success possible for scores of brewers. In 1857, the city council ordered the grades of all existing properties to be raised to a height that would ensure proper drainage. John Hoerber used this opportunity to raise his combination saloon, store and boardinghouse and install a small brewery underneath, pumping fresh beer to his customers. By doing so, Hoerber beat the now-defunct Siebens on West Ontario by about 150 years for the title of Chicago’s first brew pub.

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Historic Beer Birthday: August Krug

April 15, 2019 By Jay Brooks 1 Comment

Today is the birthday of August Krug (April 15, 1815-December 30, 1856). Krug was born in Miltenberg, Bavaria, Germany, but when he was 33, in 1848, emigrated to the U.S. and settle in central Wisconsin. He opened a restaurant and the following year, 1849, added a brewery, which was known then as the August Krug Brewery. When he died young, in 1856, his bookkeeper, Joseph Schlitz took over management on behalf of Krug’s widow, Anna Marie. In 1858, Schlitz married Krug’s widow and renamed the brewery after himself.

Here’s a biography of him from Find-a-Grave:

Brewer. His August Krug Brewery was the foundation that became the giant Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Born Georg August Krug in Miltenberg, Bavaria, Germany, he came to the USA about 1848, established a restaurant in Kilbourntown (now central Milwaukee), Wisconsin and added a small brewery in 1849 which, limited by lack of refrigeration to brewing in cooler months, produced about 150 barrels the first year. In 1850, his father, Georg Krug, came to visit, surviving a shipwreck on the way. The father managed to save himself, Krug’s eight-year-old nephew August Uihlein and $800 in gold. The gold was used to expand the brewery and hire four people, including Joseph Schlitz as bookkeeper. Krug, who is credited with building Kilawukee’s first underground brewer’s vault tunneled into the hill to provide the consistent cool temperatures essential to brewing and storage, died seven years after his brewery produced its first barrel of beer. The bookkeeper, Schlitz, acquired both his brewery and then his widow after Krug died in 1856. The brewery’s market share increased steadily, and sales doubled when Schlitz entered the Chicago market immediately after the Chicago Fire in 1871. Schlitz was lost at sea in 1875, after which Krug’s four nephews began the Uihlein dynasty that was to run the company during its long history. In the 1960s, Schlitz was the second-largest brewer in the world; during the 1970s it was troubled by indictments for improper marketing, by insufficient advertising and by public resentment over a change in the brewing recipe; finally a 1981 strike lead to the closure of their Milwaukee plant although it was still the USA’s third-largest brewer when purchased by the Stroh Brewery Company of Detroit (now part of Pabst Brewing Co.) in 1982.

The August Krug Brewery, c. 1850s.

This portion of the brewery’s history from Immigrant Entrepreneurship is entitled “Political Revolution, Emigration, and Establishing a Regional Player in Brewing: August Krug and Joseph Schlitz” and is the early section that includes Krug’s contributions:

At the beginning was the German revolution of 1848. Georg August Krug (born April 15, 1815 in Miltenberg, grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt; died: December 30, 1856 in Milwaukee, WI) was born the son of Georg Anton Krug (1785–1860) and Anna Marie Ludwig (1784–1864), who owned the brewery “Zum Weißen Löwen,” the predecessor of today’s Faust brewery, in Miltenberg. This was a small and contested town at the River Main, which belonged until 1803 to the Electorate of Mayence (Mainz), became part of the grand duchy of Baden in 1806, was transferred to the grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1810, and finally became part of the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1816. Georg August Krug worked in the family business but also became a member of a group of revolutionists surrounding a local doctor and farmer, Jakob Nöthig, who later emigrated to the U.S. after he was accused of being a ringleader (Rädelsführerei) of a local band of political agitators and other offenses against the Bavarian authorities. Krug and his father were among the petitioners in Miltenberg on March 8, 1848 who demanded liberal reforms. On the following day Miltenberg was shaken by protests and turmoil, and Bavarian armed forces reestablished order. Facing official prosecution, the younger Krug became part of the first wave of politically-motivated emigration. He arrived in the United States in May 1848, where he used only his second name and where he was naturalized on December 15, 1854.

In Milwaukee, at that time a preferred destination for the 48ers, August Krug established, probably with his savings, a saloon and restaurant on 4th and Chestnut Streets. Far from Bavaria, he still managed to receive additional support from his family. First, his fiancée Anna Maria Wiesmann Hartig arrived from Miltenberg (Oct. 9, 1819–Jan. 20, 1887) and they eventually married—likely in 1849. She was the daughter of Michael Wiesmann and Christina Schlohr, both from Miltenberg. Her presence allowed an expansion of his business activities. While Anna Maria Krug managed the restaurant, August Krug started a small brewing business at a nearby building at 420 Chestnut Street in 1849. Second, his father Georg Anton Krug arrived in the United States on October 25, 1850, accompanied by his grandson, 8-year-old August Uihlein. Such visits were not without risk: the visitors travelled on the Helena Sloman, the first German steamship on the transatlantic route. It encountered distress at sea on November 28, 1850 and sunk. Nine people were killed, but the vast majority of the crew and the passengers, in total 175 persons, were rescued by the American ship Devonshire. Georg Anton Krug lost a Bavarian beer pump, which went down with the wreckage, but he rescued $800 in gold (or $23,000 in 2010 dollars). This capital was invested into the brewery of his son and used to hire three additional employees, including a bookkeeper named Joseph Schlitz.

August Krug became a respected citizen. In 1850, his real estate property was valued at $1,600 ($46,100 in 2010 dollars). His household consisted of five people: himself and his wife Anna Maria, two brewery workers (both from Bavaria), and a young 18-year-old women, probably a servant. Krug was apparently a respected voice in his neighborhood, as his name was invoked in a newspaper advertisement for a local fireproof tile maker. He could afford to visit Germany in 1855, where he was able to meet with his relatives again.

By the mid-1850s, Krug already saw himself as a competitor for preeminence with other German immigrant brewers in Milwaukee in particular the Best family and Miltenberg-born Valentin Blatz (1826–1894). However, he was injured in an accident late in 1856, when he tumbled down a hatchway, and passed away several days later. The value of the eleven lots of real estate he owned was estimated at $20,050 ($532,000 in 2010 dollars). There were a total of $15,296.76 in claims and demands against the estate, including $276.50 owed to bookkeeper Joseph Schlitz (in 2010 dollars, equivalent to roughly $406,000 and $7,330, respectively).

Historic Beer Birthday: William Cullen

April 15, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of William Cullen (April 15, 1710-February 5, 1790). He “was a Scottish physician, chemist and agriculturalist, and one of the most important professors at the Edinburgh Medical School, during its hay-day as the leading center of medical education in the English-speaking world.

Cullen was also a central figure in the Scottish Enlightenment. He was David Hume’s physician and friend, and on intimate terms with Adam Smith, Lord Kames (with whom he discussed theoretical and practical aspects of husbandry), Joseph Black, John Millar, and Adam Ferguson, among others.

He was President of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (1746–47), President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (1773–1775) and First Physician to the King in Scotland (1773–1790). He was also, incidentally, one of the prime movers in obtaining a royal charter for the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, resulting in the formation of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1783.”

Cullen extended the subject of chemistry beyond medicine by connecting it to many “arts” including agriculture, bleaching, brewing, mining, and the manufacture of vinegar and alkalies. In brewing, it was the very important need for cooling using artificial refrigeration where William Cullen at the University of Glasgow in 1748 made his impact, making advances crucial to the development of refrigeration for the brewing industry when he began studying the cooling effects of liquids evaporating in a vacuum, the process by which we cool foods today. He even demonstrated artificial refrigeration for the first time in 1748.

In the Brussels Journal, in a multi-part history of beer, Cullen’s contributions are acknowledged and explained:

The principle of vacuum refrigerators is based on the fact that water in a sealed container can be made to boil if the pressure is reduced (the “boiling point” of 100 degrees Celsius refers to the situation when the external pressure equals one atmosphere; water can be made to boil at lower temperatures on a mountain top). The heat necessary for evaporation is taken from the water itself. Reducing the pressure further lowers the temperature until freezing-point is reached and ice is formed. The Scottish scholar and chemist William Cullen (1710-1790) gave one of the first documented public demonstrations of artificial refrigeration, and the United States inventor Oliver Evans (1755-1819) designed, but did not build, a refrigeration machine which ran on vapor in 1805. I. Hornsey writes in his history of beer and brewing:

“The earliest machine of this type was constructed in 1755, by Dr William Cullen, who produced the vacuum necessary purely by means of a pump. Then, in 1810, Sir John Leslie combined a vessel containing a strong sulphuric acid solution along with the air pump, the acid acting as an absorbent for water vapour in the air. This principle was taken up and elaborated upon by E.C. Carré, who in 1860 invented a machine that used ammonia as the volatile liquid instead of water….The first compression machine was manufactured by John Hague in 1834, from designs by the inventor, Jacob Perkins, who took out the original patents, and recommended that ether was used as the volatile agent. Although Hague’s machine can be regarded as the archetype for all ‘modern’ refrigerators, it never really got past the development stage, and it was left to the Australian, James Harrison, of Geelong, Victoria, to finalise the practicalities and produce a working version, which he did in 1856. By 1859, Harrison’s equipment was being manufactured commercially in New South Wales, and the first of them (which used ether as the refrigerating agent) came to Britain in 1861.”

Although the first inventor of a practical refrigerator was Oliver Evans in 1805, Cullen invented the process in 1748 which allowed the technology to be further developed. After his public demonstration of the refrigeration effects of evaporative cooling, he described the phenomenon in “Of the Cold Produced by Evaporating Fluids and of Some Other Means of Producing Cold” (Essays and Observations, Physical and Literary, vol. 2 [1756]).

Historic Beer Birthday: George Schmitt

April 14, 2019 By Jay Brooks 2 Comments

Today is the birthday of George Schmitt (April 14, 1869-July 31, 1898). There’s very little about him that I could find, though I suspect the fact that he died when he was only 29 might have something to do with that. He was trained as a brewer at his father’s brewery, worked at a malt house, and became the manager of Schmitt & Schwanenfluegel Brewery, which was in New York City, near Central Park at 1065 Avenue A, between 56th & 57th.

This short obituary was printed in the American Brewers’ Review:

The brewery was originally known as the Henry Elias Brewery, who founded it near 15th Street & Broadway in 1855. Elias, in 1865, partnered with George Schmitt, this George’s father, and became known as Henry Elias & George Schmitt Brewery, a.k.a. the Central Park Brewery (and was readdressed to 1065 Avenue A, between 56th & 57th). In 1868, Schmitt partnered with Christian Koehne to keep it going and it became the Schmitt & Christian Koehne Brewery. Then in 1885, Koehne left and Louis Von Schwanenfluegel came to the business and it became known as Schmitt & Schwanenfluegel Brewery, which it remained until it closed in 1906. During that time it was also known as Consumers Park Brewing Co. and also Central Park Brewery.

According to 100 Years of Brewing, the chronology is slightly different:

Historic Beer Birthday: Johann Sedlmayr

April 9, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Johann Sedlmayr (April 9, 1846-November 24, 1900). Johann was the grandson of Gabriel Sedlmayr and the third son of Gabriel Sedlmayr II. Johann’s father inherited the Spaten Brewery, along with his brother, when his father died, but Gabriel became sole owner after his brother Joseph left to start his own brewery, Franziskaner. Two of Johann’s older brothers died before their father, so when Gabriel II passed away, he and his younger brothers Carl and Anton inherited the family brewery.

The caption of this photo, from German Wikipedia, translates to “Delivery of the Spade brewery to the sons Johann, Carl and Anton Sedlmayr 1874,” although I can’t say which one is Johann. I don’t know much more about his time running the brewery. “From 1884 to 1890 he was a member of the German Reichstag for the electoral district of Oberbayern 1 Munich I and the Nationalliberal Party.”

Historic Beer Birthday: Henry Lembeck

April 8, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Henry B. Lembeck (April 8, 1826-July 26, 1904). He partner with John F. Betz (whose birthday is also today) to start The Lembeck and Betz Eagle Brewing Company in 1869, in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was originally known as the Henry Lembeck & John Betz Brewery, but changed its name to the Lembeck & Betz Eagle Brewing Co. in 1890. The brewery operated until prohibition in 1920. It was licensed in 1933 to begin brwong beer again, but never did so, effectively meaning it closed in 1920, or 1933, depending on how you want to look at it.

This is his biography from his Wikipedia page:

Born in Osterwick, Germany near Münster, he became a cabinet maker like his father and an apprentice at the age of 13. He was drafted into the army at the age of 20, but deserted during the German Revolution of 1848 and immigrated to the United States in 1849. Living in New York City, he worked first as a carpenter and then as a grocery clerk. In a few years, Lembeck set up his own successful grocery business. It was then that he met a successful brewer, John F. Betz, selling his beer in his store.

In 1869, Lembeck moved across the river and established a brewery with Betz in downtown Jersey City, New Jersey. The Lembeck and Betz Eagle Brewing Company would develop into one of the most successful breweries in the eastern United States producing a quarter of a million barrels of beer a year. As Lembeck grew financially successful, he also helped establish banks and real estate companies in Jersey City. Lembeck was the founder of the Greenville Banking and Trust Company and a director of the Third National Bank. He helped develop the township of Greenville (today it’s a section of Jersey City) through real estate development of undeveloped land. Lembeck discontinued home building over a dispute with the city regarding the quality of water supplied to the Greenville area. After his retirement his son Gustav took over running the brewery. The brewery closed during Prohibition in 1920 and later went out of business. He lived in Greenville with his wife Emma and children in a mansion on Columbia Place, which has since been renamed Lembeck Avenue.

Lembeck died in Jersey City and is buried in Bayview – New York Bay Cemetery in Jersey City. The Lembeck mansion was later donated by his widow to St. Anne’s Home for the Aged.

Here’s a short biography of Lembeck from Find-a-Grave:

Henry Lembeck was born near Münster, Germany. At the age of 20, he was drafted into the army, but deserted during the German Revolution of 1848 and immigrated to the United States in 1849. Living in New York City, he worked first as a carpenter and than as a grocery clerk. In a few years, Lembeck set up his own successful grocery business. It was then that he met a successful brewer, John F. Betz. In 1869, Lembeck moved across the river and established a brewery with Betz in downtown Jersey City. The Lembeck and Betz Eagle Brewing Company would develop into one of the most successful breweries in the eastern United States producing a quarter of a million barrels of beer a year. As Lembeck grew financially successful, he also helped establish banks and real estate companies in Jersey City. His son Gustav took over running the brewery. He lived in Greenville (now part of Jersey City) with his wife Emma and children in a mansion on Columbia Place, which has since been re-named Lembeck Avenue.

This is a second biography of Lembeck from Find-a-Grave:

Henry Lembeck is of German parentage, his father having resided in Osterwick, Munster, Germany, where he followed the trade of a cabinetmaker. He married Elizabeth Wenning, of the same town, and had children, Elizabeth, Catrina, Bernard (deceased), Henry and Joseph. Henry was born on the 8th of April, 1826, in Osterwick, where he remained until eighteen years of age. He received in youth a rudimentary education, and on the death of his father, when his son was fourteen years of age, became an apprentice to the cabinet-maker’s trade, serving three years in that capacity. For two and a half years he was employed as a journeyman, when, being drafted into the German army, he did duty as a soldier for two and a half years. His strong love of liberty, however, found expression in the revolutionary sentiments declared by him, which rendered his presence in his native land uncomfortable. He was therefore induced to emigrate to America, and on landing in New York at once resumed his trade, that of a cabinet-maker. Jersey City then became his place of residence,after which he became the agent for the sale of the ale made at the brewery of John F. Betz, of New York. This was continued until 1870, when, in connection with John Betz, he established the firm, of Lembeck & Betz,of which ale is the staple product. They speedily won an extended reputation for the excellence of their ale, and created a wide demand for it in New York City and the vicinity. He was for four years a member of the Board of Public Works of Jersey City, two years of which period he was its president. He is also a director of the E.B. Parsons Malting Company of Rochester, N.Y. He is in religion a Catholic, and identified with St. Paul’s Catholic Church of Greenville.

The Lembeck and Betz Eagle Brewing Company in 1910.

And this is a history of his brewery from its Wikipedia page:

The Lembeck and Betz Eagle Brewing Company was founded in 1869 by Henry B. Lembeck and John F. Betz in Jersey City, in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The brewery, bounded by 9th, 10th, Grove, and Henderson streets in downtown Jersey City, developed into one of the most famous, best-equipped, and financially successful breweries on the East Coast of the United States. In 1889, Lembeck started producing lager beer in addition to the traditional pale ale they had been brewing. The brewery grew through the later part of the 19th century, eventually occupying seventeen city lots. The company was incorporated in May 1890. Since 1869, the brewery grew to become the fourth-largest brewery in New Jersey.

Lembeck died in 1904 and his sons Gustav and Otto took over running the brewery. The brewery closed during Prohibition. The facility was later sold and converted into a refrigeration plant. In 1984, the area was designated the Lembeck and Betz Eagle Brewing Company District on the National Register of Historic Places. The brewery buildings were demolished in 1997.

This history of the brewery is from Jersey City, Past and Present:

Business partners Henry Lembeck and John F. Betz founded one of the most famous, best-equipped, and financially successful breweries on the East Coast of the United States. By 1889, it manufactured fifty thousand barrels of ale and port and 250,000 barrels of beer per year in a state of the art facility valued at a million dollars and worth three million dollars in total assets.

Henry Lembeck was born at Osterwick, Mu[e]nster, Germany, on April 8, 1826. He adopted his father’s trade of cabinet making starting as an apprentice at age thirteen. He served four years as a journeyman and expected to complete his training in Paris, France, when he was drafted into the German army in 1846, a year prior to the revolution. A genealogical investigation by Lembeck’s descendants has documented that while serving in the military, Lembeck, dressed in civilian attire, frequently attended and participated at rallies of the insurgents. After a furlough granted in March 1849, he did not return to his regiment and seems to have immigrated to the United States. An investigation in 1850 was conducted and he was “declared a deserter.”

After working as a carpenter for the Herring Safe Company in New York City, Lembeck became the clerk to a grocer; and three years later he bought his own business that developed from a grocery store to a market-gardening firm. While his business flourished, Lembeck also became a sales agent for the brewery of John F. Betz of New York. In 1869, Lembeck moved to Jersey City and established with Betz a brewery to manufacture ale and porter on Ninth Street. The Betz family had already established a reputation as brewers both in the United States and Germany.

The brewery in 1870.

With Lembeck’s newly acquired business savvy and Betz’s background in the production of ale and porter, the partnership was established on sound footing. The Jersey City brewing facility and operation expanded. Lembeck astutely noted the diminishing taste for ale in the United States, and in 1889 added the production of the more popular beverage of lager beer to the business. Lembeck became president of the company and incorporated the brewery into a cooperative stock company in May 1890. Betz was the vice president of the company.

A biography of Lembeck states, “[he] had the complete management of the business, assumed full responsibility of its direction, and consequently must receive the credit for its success and growth” (“Biography of Henry B. Lembeck,” 2). The brewery’s physical plant begun on Ninth Street was enlarged to accommodate the required refrigeration and storage of beer and eventually occupied seventeen city lots. A malt house, H.F. Lembeck & Company at Watkins, New York, at the head of Seneca Lake, complemented the brewing firm.

Along with his business success, Lembeck took a strong interest in the Jersey City, his permanent residence. He was one of the founders the Greenville Banking and Trust Company, became vice president of the Third National Bank of Jersey City, and served with other corporations such as the Hudson Real Estate Company of which he was a director. In 1898 Lembeck built the Hudson Building at 13-15 Ocean Avenue. The stone Romanesque Revival structure at the corner of Lembeck and Ocean Avenues consecutively housed the Hudson Real Estate Company and the Greenville Bank and Trust Company with which he was associated. After a renovation in 1970, the Hudson Building became a 22-unit apartment.

Lembeck owned large tracks of land in Greenville and helped with its development. He donated property for the extension of Columbia Park (today Bartholdi Avenue). His earlier carpentry training prompted him to build a reported 32 to 43 houses in Jersey City prior to 1895 and to participate in their construction as both architect and supervising contractor. Lembeck discontinued home building over a dispute with the city regarding the quality of water supplied to the Greenville area and complained of the loss of tenants willing to rent his properties.

Lembeck lived in the home that he designed at 46 Columbia Place (today Lembeck Avenue) and Old Bergen Road. The modest-looking red brick structure has a decorative cornice painted gray with dentil molding and corner brackets. The center section of the house features a recessed gray wood and glass door reached from the concrete riser and has an open pediment supported by brackets over a double window with semicircular transom; the adjoining sections of building are topped by pyramids over the roofline. The Lembeck mansion was later donated by his widow to St. Anne’s Home for the Aged at 198 Old Bergen Road and serves as the administrative building; St. Ann’s became part of the York Street Project, run by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, in 1987.

Lembeck died at his residence on July 25, 1904; he was president of Lembeck and Betz at the time of his death. He is buried in the family plot in the Bayview-New York Bay Cemetery.

The tagline in this ad is great: “The beer that made Milwaukee jealous.”

Historic Beer Birthday: George Ehret

April 6, 2019 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of George Ehret (April 6, 1835-January 21, 1927). He was born in Hofweier, Buden, Germany but followed his father to America, arriving in New York in 1857, age 31. Having been trained as a brewer, he worked for a few years and then founded his own brewery, the George Ehret Brewery, which was also known as the Hell Gate Brewery, in 1866. It stopped producing beer in 1920 due to prohibition and limped along until 1927, when it closed due to his death.

The entry at Find a Grave has just a couple of sentences. “Beer Brewer, he established The Hell Gate Brewery in 1866 in New York City. It became one of the nation’s largest breweries, producing 602,000 barrels in 1900. When he died, his estate was valued at $40,000,000.”

100 Years of Brewing has a much fuller account of Ehret and the Hell Gate Brewery:

George Ehret’s Hell Gate Brewery, New York City.

The Hell Gate Brewery was established by George Ehret in the year 1866; hence, at a time when the annual production of malt liquors [in the U.S.] had increased to 5,115,140 barrels. He had then just attained the age of thirty-one years, the date of his birth being April 6, 1835. Nine years before the establishment of this brewery, Mr. Ehret came to America (1857) to join his father, who had emigrated from Germany in August, 1852.

Mr. Ehret, being a thoroughly practical brewer, strictly devoted to his calling, had not long to serve in the brewery of A. Hupfel before he rose to the foremanship and gained the full confidence and friendship of his employer. When he made known his intention to start a brewery for himself, Mr. Hupfel, a man of generous instincts and philanthropic disposition, at once promised and, at the proper time, gave his support and assistance to the new enterprise.

The site selected by Mr. George Ehret for his brewery was at that time of a decidedly rural character. It was opposite a dangerous passage in the East river, which had been designated “Hell Gate.” From this fact Mr. Ehret decided to name his brewery “The Hell Gate Brewery.”

The building in which he began brewing was erected under his supervision on the lower part of the block, between Ninety-second and Ninety-third streets and Second and Third avenues, and its interior appointments were completed at the beginning of the year 1867. This building is no longer standing. It was succeeded by another in 1871, which formed the nucleus of the establishment that now covers the greater part of an entire block. It is at present almost hidden by the over-towering brewery buildings which have sprung up around it in the course of a quarter century, and a full view of it can only be gained from the quadrangular yard, of which it forms the interior side, the buildings flanking it being the offices and the storehouse, both fronting on Ninety-second street.

Mr. George Ehret, from the very beginning, aimed at the brewing of a beer as nearly like the best quality of Munich lager as the difference between our water and that of the river Isar would admit. How well he succeeded in this may be inferred from the popularity which his beer attained in a few years. As has been said, he began brewing immediately after the completion of his plant. At the beginning of January, 1867, the first brew was stored in the cellars; in March of the same year his wagons, freighted not only with kegs, but also, metaphorically speaking, with all his expectations and anxieties, left his yards for the first time to serve his new customers. Five years after that date he sold 33,512 barrels; seven years later, 74,497 barrels, and in 1874 he produced and sold 101,050 barrels — a quantity which twenty-eight years ago was manufactured by but very few of the largest establishments. This growth was then all the more remarkable, because Mr. Ehret’s operations had suddenly been checked for a considerable time on account of a fire which, on the 19th of September, 1870, destroyed the greater part of his brewery, including books and papers. It is owing to this fact that we are unable to give the quantities of beer brewed during the four years preceding the fire.

The year 1870 may be called the second starting point in the growth of Hell Gate Brewery. In a certain sense the fire was not an unmixed evil, especially in view of the fact that the demand for Ehret beer was fast outgrowing the capacity of the original plant, necessitating a considerable extension of the premises and buildings, and many additions to the machinery and other appointments.

As stated above, the amount of beer produced and sold by the Hell Gate Brewery in the year 1874 amounted to 101,050 barrels; in 1880, the production amounted to 220,096 barrels, an increase in six years of over one hundred per cent. Ten years after, in the year 1890, the production amounted to 412,851 barrels, making another increase of almost one hundred per cent for the decade. In the year 1900, the production was 601,000 barrels, showing an increase of about forty-six per cent. This is a record to be proud of, and one that has seldom been equaled in the history of brewing.

This immense production has been attained without any forced efforts to open new channels outside of the limits of the State of New York; although, naturally enough, whenever a demand was shown to exist in outside markets, Mr. George Ehret endeavored to supply it, and thus established a number of agencies. The home demand always proved so great that the idea of engaging in an extensive export trade beyond the sea could not be entertained, save in conjunction with plans for a further enlargement of the brewery premises and increase in equipment.

On approaching the brewery, one is impressed at the very first glance with the unusually large dimensions of the grounds upon which the buildings are erected. In a smaller city this would not be anything worthy of note, but in New York, and especially in that part of it to which we refer, where scantness of territory and an immense and ever-growing population render necessary the utmost economy in the utilization of space (much to the detriment of architectural beauty), such extended premises as those we speak of can not fail to make an impression. The grounds, extending from within a short distance of Third avenue to Second avenue, and from Ninety-first to Ninety-fourth streets, comprise, inclusive of stables and storage buildings on Second avenue between Ninety-first and Ninety-third streets, seventy-five city lots, or one hundred and eighty-seven thousand five hundred square feet.

The main building, an imposing structure, surmounted by a graceful clock tower, fronts on Ninety-third street, extending southward to a considerable depth; it is flanked on either side by lower wings, which, in point of architecture and symmetrical proportions, harmonize perfectly with the principal facade. Ornamental gables, rising from the cornices of every building, enhance the impression of uniformity which, next to utility, was manifestly one of the prime objects of the architect.

100 Years of Brewing was published in 1903, so the rest of the story can be found in Will Anderson’s Breweries of Brooklyn:

George Ehret, once this nation’s largest brewer, passed away in January of 1927 (leaving an estate valued at $40,000,000!). It was beginning to look as if Prohibition would last forever and the executors of Ehret’s estate debated whether they should sell the mammoth brewery buildings on the upper east side of Manhattan. For years they held off but in April of 1935 Col. Jacob Ruppert, Ehret’s neighbor on Third Avenue and 92nd Street, made an offer that the Ehret family just couldn’t refuse. With the sale to Ruppert, the Ehrets had even more money to add to what they’d inherited earlier — but they had no brewery. This problem was solved very nicely by the cash purchase, in July of 1935, of the Interboro Beverage Co. facilities [in Brooklyn]. Although the location was new, the brewery was still very much under the control of the Ehret family. Louis J. Ehret, George’s son, headed the firm, and he was aided by two of George’s grandchildren, George Ehret Burghardt and William Ehret Ottmann. Richard Barthel, brewmaster at the old Ehret plant in Yorkville, also made the move to Brooklyn. Over $200,000 was spent to thoroughly recondition the plant throughout, and by the summer of 1936 Louis J. Ehret had the plant in full production.

Ehret’s Extra Beer and Ale were brewed in Brooklyn for the next 12 years, until 1948, when the company transferred its operations to Union City, New Jersey. Whether Ehret’s moved because of an irresistible offer from Schlitz [who bought the Brooklyn plant] or because the Union City plant seemed preferable is unknown. In any case, move to New Jersey they did, where they remained in operation but three more years.

And finally, here;s George Ehret’s obituary.

A ad from 1909.

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